Apocalyptic Returning

Chapter 30: Malevolent Scheme

Opening his eyes to a pitch-dark room, Hollow tried to move, but found himself strung up, floating in the air by chains constructed from red energy. "Am I...alive?" The room suddenly filled with light, revealing Murillo to be standing before him. "M-Murillo, what's going on? What is this?"

"This" Murillo motioned to the highly advanced room. "Is, at least for now, your new primary residence."

"I...don't understand." Hollow examined the room, the cameras that captured his every angle, the turrets that hung from the ceiling, all aiming at him. "Why?"

"Then let me clear up the confusion." Murillo outstretched his hand and a holographic scene played before Hollow.

In this scene, Zodiac, Ilya, Killjoy, Yeager and an unconscious Hollow are retreating to an Infinium VTOL. Captain Ilya was making his way to the VTOL while carrying the unconscious Hollow on his back. That was when suddenly, Hollow awoke with a roar and bit down into Ilya's shoulder.

Hollow jerked his head to the side, tearing off Ilya's arm as he jumped away from the group. Before anyone could react, Hollow began to indulge in his appetite with Ilya's severed arm. And after completely consuming the arm, Hollow let out a roar before lunging at Yaeger and crashing into him.

Murillo closed his open hand into a fist, causing the hologram to turn off. "You ate Ilya's arm."

A moment of silence filled the air as Hollow stared forward with a dead look on his face. "No...no, that wasn't, that's not me."

"Look at yourself Hollow!" Murillo yelled.

Confused at first, Hollow peered down at his own body, a look of horror quickly spreading across his face. "What kind of cruel trick are you playing on me?" Looking to his left, he analyzed the second nanomechanical mouth that rested in the palm of his left hand. "What did you do to me?"

The door to the room opened, letting Jay, Zaraph and Boss walk into the room and stand beside Murillo. "What did you do to me!?" Hollow yelled angrily without looking away from his left hand.

"What did "he" do to you?" Boss questioned. "That's not the question you should be asking. You see, the abilities we manifest upon becoming an exosuit user are representations of what we are as a human being. Our personality, our experiences, our likes and dislikes, all these effect what we become upon receiving our exosuit."

"So, tell me Hollow, what are you?"

Hollow turned his head to look Boss in the face. "No...you're wrong, this, this isn't me...you hear me, this isn't me!"

"Can you release him already?' Boss asked after turning to face Murillo.

"Why?" Murillo questioned.

"Cause I'm going to punch him in the face." Boss answered.

"Please don't." Jay stepped past Boss and moved between him and Hollow. "But do release him already Murillo."

"Are you sure?" Zaraph stepped forward to be beside Jay.

"Yes sir." With a snap of Murillo's finger's, the chains around Hollow shattered, letting him drop to the floor.

After landing on his knees, Hollow pushed himself off the ground and stumbled backwards to his feet. "Why?"

"Who the hell knows." Boss stated honestly. "Victor must have seen something in you and decided you were worth keeping around."

"Honestly...that's probably the best answer you're going to get here Hollow." Zaraph said.

Examining everyone that stood before him, Hollow let out a nervous chuckle. "I don't know what to say."

"How about you get some rest." Jay recommended. "Then we can discuss this some more later."